


Entrapta Explains it All

by CountDorku



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Animals, Catra (She-Ra) Redemption, Character Exaggeration, Funny, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Hordak Recovery, Memory Loss, Nonsense, Not Beta Read, Post-Canon, Redeemed Catra, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) Season 4 Spoilers, well post-redemption I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:48:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21734770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CountDorku/pseuds/CountDorku
Summary: Scorpia found a kitten, and the whole thing snowballed from there.
Relationships: Adora/Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra/Scorpia (She-Ra), Entrapta & Hordak (She-Ra)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 87





	Entrapta Explains it All

“I think I’ve figured out how to fix Hordak,” said Entrapta cheerfully.

Glimmer raised a hand and said, “So, I have one big problem with this already. Hordak with his memories was a relentless threat to the freedom of literally everyone on Etheria. I know, I know, you got along with him well, you miss him, but…look, Entrapta, we’re not sacrificing any lives so you can have your ex-boyfriend back.”

“Oh, he wasn’t my boyfriend, he was my lab partner,” said Entrapta, “but I understand your confusion. Everyone seems to make that mistake. Besides, he’s not really a threat any more! He doesn’t have the infrastructure of his old ship or the Fright Zone, most of the old Horde has defected or retired to start farms and families, and the reason he wanted to take over the world can’t happen now that Horde Prime is dead!” The flinty eyes around the table told her this wasn’t working. “Plus, if we could get his memories back, just imagine what we could do! Not just technology – he presumably knew Micah was on Beast Island, just think what else he knows!”

There was a long pause, and then Glimmer said, “Okay, fine. But-” She held up one finger in what Entrapta had learned was a warning gesture. “-he stays in his restraints the entire time. I’ll keep his armour’s control crystal on me in a different room to make sure you don’t get carried away.” Glimmer’s voice was like iron as she added, “If we’re going to put him on trial, it’s only fair that he gets to remember doing the things he’s on trial for.”

Bow coughed. “So what’s your plan?”

“It’s actually really simple!” Entrapta paused for a second. “Well, no, actually, it’s really complicated, but in simple ways. Basically! I’ve been analysing Hordak’s answers, and a lot of them almost seem to be programmed responses. It’s like he has a little computer in his head spitting out surface-level rebuttals to avoid having to consider the deeper implications of anything that would weaken Horde Prime’s control.”

“Like arguing on social media,” said Mermista drily.

“Exactly!” Entrapta grinned so broadly Bow began to worry for the top of her head. “So before we get access to the real Hordak, we have to get around those programmed blocks. We need something that can’t be rebutted with logic – something real enough that it can’t be dismissed as misinformation, but insane enough that it bypasses the blocks.”

Glimmer studied her with eyes as cold and hard as amethysts. “So what’s your proposal?”

“I’m going to explain the Pet Situation to him. With a slideshow.”

There was a pregnant pause.

“If it works,” said Bow, “would you mind also explaining it to me?” He fried for a moment in their stares. “Look, I was visiting my dads for part of that whole mess, okay? I genuinely have no idea what happened!”

“Being here wouldn’t have helped.” This was from Mermista. “I _did_ half of it and I still have no idea what happened.”

* * *

“So the trouble started when Scorpia found a stray kitten in the Whispering Woods,” began Entrapta as the projector fired up. The first slide showed Scorpia with her claws wrapped in padding; sitting on top of the padding was a tiny brown lump with two golden eyes. “She named it Little Catra. Oh, right, this is Catra.” The slide clicked, to be replaced by an image of Catra trying to smash the camera with a Horde stun prod.

“I am aware of her,” said Hordak, his voice flat. “She was one of Horde Prime’s prisoners.”

“And while she was doing that, or being that I guess, everyone in Brightmoon kind of got used to Little Catra being around. Most of us started just calling her Catra because it saved time…also, they’re a lot alike.” The next slide showed Little Catra attempting to pick a fight with Emily. The kitten’s expression was that of an animal who had long ago realised that nearly everything in the world was a lot bigger than her and simply did not care. “And this caused a problem when, well, the actual Catra got back.”

A few slides skimmed past, reasonably quickly: Catra burying her face in Adora’s back, weeping; Catra and Scorpia embracing; Entrapta herself wrapping Catra up in a hair hug. At the last one, Entrapta thought she saw Hordak’s mouth twitch, but he showed no other reaction, and his eyes kept their flat green glow.

“Catra was…a bit upset that the kitten managed to take her name and pushed her into the role of Big Catra, so she started competing with the poor little thing.” Another slide moved into place, featuring Catra going toe-to-toe with Little Catra; the photograph where she was stealing kibble from the kitten’s bowl while fixing her with a death glare was probably the most embarrassing, followed by the one where Little Catra was punishing this affront by clinging to Catra’s face.

There was a sound from outside the cell that sounded like a muffled voice yelling “How did she even get that picture?!” Hordak gave no sign that he’d heard anything.

Entrapta could tell she had some ground to make up here. “Mermista – you probably remember her, she hit you in the face with a trident and called you a piece of – anyway, Mermista didn’t help by getting Perfuma to make _this_.” Another slide: a giant wooden statue, resembling Catra with an almost comical expression of bewildered frustration. The sign around its neck read BIGGER CATRA. “Also, this was about when Adora and Glimmer started going out, so. Catra wasn’t keeping it together all that well.”

* * *

“I was keeping it together fine,” said Catra sourly, as Little Catra curled up in her lap and went to sleep. She glared at the rest of the group as if to say _I am not friends with this kitten, I am just choosing not to continue the feud at this time_.

Nobody bought it, just as they hadn’t bought it the other seven times she’d tried it.

“You spent three days stalking us,” said Adora. “After my first night keeping Glimmer company, I opened the closet and you were standing in there chewing on coffee beans and glaring. And then you spent the next two days in the infirmary.”

“The universe had to stop me from using caffeine or I’d be too powerful,” said Catra airily, as her hand absently started to pet the kitten. “Look, you know recovery can be a difficult road. I was taking it one day at a time.”

“Except when you were in the infirmary, when you took two days at once,” deadpanned Mermista. “…Okay, that sounded funnier in my head.”

Adora’s shoulders twitched with the effort of keeping her voice low. “I don’t think recovering one day at a time is supposed to include stalking people for three days in a fit of crazed jealousy, Catra!”

“Look, I hardly destroyed the world _at all_ that time. For my fits of crazed jealousy, that’s progress.” Catra paused for a moment. “If you’d told me back when we were kids that one day I’d say that and mean it, I would not have believed you.”

“Because you didn’t think you’d try to destroy the world, or because you thought if you tried to destroy the world you’d succeed?” said Mermista, her expression flat.

“…Call it a little of both?”

* * *

“Clearly, this Catra would attempt to make some gesture of retaliation,” said Hordak.

“Right! So she got a fish and called it Mermista.” Entrapta touched a control, and a short video clip started playing.

_“And when I deem the time is right,” hissed Catra, “I’m going to smoke and eat Mermista.”_

_“You mean the fish, right?” said Bow._

_There was a very long pause before Catra said, “Yeah, yeah, definitely.”_

“And…did she consume the fish?” asked Hordak.

“Surprisingly, no! She even got me to build a concealed fish tank into her quarters in Brightmoon so she could pretend she’d eaten Fish Mermista when she hadn’t!”

Hordak’s skull-like face twisted into an expression of utmost confusion for a few moments. It was the most expression he’d shown since they’d captured him.

“And just when that was blowing over, Lonnie – she used to work for you, liked dreadlocks and hitting stuff – showed up with her new dog, which she’d called Adora. That was when things started to get weird. Luckily, this was also when Catra and Scorpia confessed their feelings, which at least defused the Little Catra situation.”

* * *

Multiple sets of eyes locked onto Catra like targeting sensors. Even Little Catra raised her head and stared, although this may have been the kitten’s way of demanding that Catra go back to paying attention to her.

“What, you guys didn’t know?” said Catra, in a strangled pantomime of breeziness. “I would have thought Scorpia getting even more touchy-feely would have tipped you off.”

“You say this like Scorpia doesn’t interact with everything by hugging it,” pointed out Mermista. “I think I saw her hugging a doorknob the other day.”

“ _She did not,_ ” hissed Catra, and her ears went back against her head as she realised she’d just done that. She looked down. “Look, I was…I don’t know, okay? I didn’t feel comfortable trying to make a big deal out of it.”

“It’s OK,” said Bow gently. “We know that you’re not used to being able to show vulnerability. We’re not going to go after you.” Mermista opened her mouth. “ _Most of us_ are not going to go after you,” he amended.

* * *

Hordak was plainly having trouble keeping up. “How did the new pet increase the level of chaos?”

“It wasn’t so much what Adora, the dog, did; it was how Mermista decided to escalate.” The next slide looked like something out of a horror story, specifically one about giant bugs. “She got a tiny little scorpion in a terrarium and a ten-foot scorpion monster from the Whispering Woods and set them up in different places. Naturally, she named them Big Scorpia and Little Scorpia.”

Hordak eyed her coldly. “The larger creature was of course Big Scorpia.”

“Wrong! The tiny scorpion was Big Scorpia and the giant one was Little Scorpia.”

Hordak made a noise like he was about to cough up an entire printer in the middle of a page, and Entrapta permitted herself a tiny smirk. Just a little more…

“When everything dissolved into a giant, pointless argument about who deserved what name and whose pet was worst, the pets themselves seemed to take a hand! They all disappeared, even the fish somehow, and we had to work together to figure out where they went. It turned out Swift Wind had orchestrated it – he got the idea from Sea Hawk.” A moment later, she added, “You probably don’t know Swift Wind, either. He’s a talking horse. He also speaks hedgehog, apparently. You know, I thought saying that out loud would make it make sense, but it really didn’t.”

The next noise Hordak made was probably impossible to describe, but the closest comparison would be a Horde battle robot turning itself inside-out, combined with a sequence of strangled grunts. Breathing heavily, he opened his eyes and fixed Entrapta with a gaze like burning coals.

“En…Entrapta? But you…you were sent to Beast Island…”

“Yeah, and I’m back now!” She clapped her hands together. “And now so are you! You may have a bit of a headache for a while; Horde Prime really did a number on you. I've been whipping up something that should help you recover; it's back in my lab, I'm gonna go get it, I should be about ten minutes. Tell the guard outside if you need anything.” As she stepped out the door, she added, “Oh, also, the war’s over, Horde Prime lost, and you’re going to be put on trial for all the war crimes, but don’t worry, I think Glimmer’s going to push for imprisonment instead of death.”

“Oh.”

He was quiet as the door closed, and then the penny dropped.

“WHAT?!”

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a riff session on curiousscientistkae's Discord that started with an adorable image of Scorpia coping by adopting a stray kitten and then sort of spiralled out of control until we ended up with this.
> 
> With thanks/apologies to Sleepy-Onigiri, Orkycrafty, flora and Yasha for participating in the madness.


End file.
